Hundreds are expected to arrive in uptown Charlotte for a three-day conference that kicks off Wednesday and aims to guide church members on topics ranging from daily operations to navigating political discourse.
More than 800 clergy and laypeople will gather in Charlotte this week for the Episcopal Parish Network conference, now in its 41st year. Joe Swimmer is the president of the Episcopal Parish Network.
“So it's not really about the theology or the liturgy of the church, it's more, how is it that you handle that roof, or your boiler, or your campus, or raising money, those types of things that keep the church going.”
The conference is expected to feature about a dozen speakers, including Sherrilyn Ifill, a lawyer who previously headed the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Swimmers says the goal is to help provide guidance at a politically and religiously sensitive moment.
“The opportunity to engage intellectually with, OK, how do I respond to this moment? How do I respond to the war in Iran?" Swimmer said. "How do I respond to, you know, what's happening in Minneapolis? How do I respond to whatever the, the thing of the moment might be?"
As part of the conference at the Sheraton and Le Méridien in uptown Charlotte, there will be a conversation about the former Brooklyn neighborhood — a once-thriving Black community that was demolished in the 1960s during urban renewal.
One of the guest speakers for the conversation will be Charlotte resident and author Greg Jarrell, whose book "Our Trespasses" explores how race, policy, churches, and geography have played out in the past and impacted today's society communities.
